Biden says, ‘I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is more competent in terms of conducting war.’ But they aren’t.
President Joe Biden, yesterday: “I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more re- — more competent in terms of conducting war.”
Biden’s expression of confidence in the capacity of the Afghan army is very close to lying to the American people about the state of Afghanistan.
U.S. Army Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the top U.S. official in Afghanistan, overseeing the withdrawal, this past weekend: “We should be concerned. The loss of terrain and the rapidity of that loss of terrain has — has to be concerning, one, because it’s a — war is physical, but it’s also got a psychological or moral component to it. And hope actually matters. And morale actually matters… And so, as you watch the Taliban moving across the country, what you don’t want to have happen is that the people lose hope and they believe they now have a foregone conclusion presented to them.”
The Washington Post, Wednesday: “Many of the Taliban’s advances have faced little to no resistance in the wake of the United States’ withdrawal. Without close U.S. support, specifically airstrikes, Afghan forces have been unable to hold territory even in parts of the country far from the Taliban’s traditional heartland in the south… Abdul Aziz Beg, a member of the Badghis provincial council who was in the city when the assault began. Beg said the breach was triggered by the deputy police chief deserting his post. After he fled, the Afghan police staffing key checkpoints protecting Qala-e Nau abandoned their positions, he said, allowing Taliban fighters to easily enter the capital.”
NPR, yesterday: “In recent weeks, the Taliban have seized about a third of the country’s 400 provincial districts. But most of the attention has focused on the north, and that’s for a good reason. It’s where the Taliban have made their most dramatic gains. They’ve seized control of three provinces, save for their capitals. And analysts tell me they’ve also seized control of mines and a border crossing. Now, and as they’ve advanced, Afghan forces have largely abandoned their posts and their weapons… I think the pace of these mass surrenders, as well as the fall of major districts, is not only surprising; it’s quite shocking because much of it is without a fight.”
Reuters, today: “At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. This series of targeted killings, which haven’t been previously reported, illustrate what U.S. and Afghan officials believe is a deliberate Taliban effort to destroy one of Afghanistan’s most valuable military assets: its corps of U.S.- and NATO-trained military pilots.”
When President Biden says he trusts the capacity of the Afghan military, as many parts of that Afghan military are abandoning their posts and surrendering to the Taliban without a fight, we have two possibilities. One is that President Biden doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and simply isn’t paying attention in his briefings, and genuinely believes that the Afghan military can defeat the Taliban. Another possibility is that Biden knows what he’s saying isn’t true, and has been refuted by the facts on the ground for weeks and months, but acknowledging it would make the withdrawal look like a mistake, so, much like Biden’s claim that surges of migrants crossing the border were part of a normal seasonal pattern, the president will insist that everything is going fine and hope not many Americans notice the Taliban is taking over again.
If Biden wants a full withdrawal and an end to the mission by the end of August, he can order that as commander in chief. But as a famous judge used to say, don’t pee on Americans’ legs and tell them that it’s raining. Own up to the consequences of the decision. Don’t tell the American people that the Afghan army can stand up to the Taliban when they clearly can’t, or won’t. The Taliban is taking over before we finish leaving.